Half of North Koreans to encounter food shortages by 2025

The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts half of North Korea’s population is expected to suffer from food shortages in 2025 due to income inequality and uneven distribution.

The USDA’s most recent report on international food security, an annual assessment that provides a global overview and forecasts, stated that by 2025 around half, or at least 13 million North Koreans could be subjected to an inadequate diet of less than 2,100 calories per day – the recommended number of calories the U.N. says is the minimum number the average person needs to stay healthy.

The report said faulty policies and structural problems in the country were causing North Korea’s chronic food shortages, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

The USDA research indicated, however, the food distribution gap is expected to shrink between 2015 and 2025, from 235,000 to 140,000 tons. In other words 140,000 tons of supplementary food would be needed in ten years to meet the needs of low-income North Koreans who cannot afford to feed themselves.

[UPI]

This entry was posted in Humanitarian Aid and Relief by Grant Montgomery.